


Of Robotic Men - Goretober Prompts

by Corveille



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Animal Abuse, Animal Death, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Body Horror, Character Death, Connor (Detroit: Become Human) Whump, Corpses, Creepy, Emotional Hurt, Gavin Reed Whump, Gen, Gore, Goretober 2019, Gunshot Wounds, Hank Anderson & Connor Friendship, Hank Anderson Whump, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Major Character Injury, Non-Consensual Body Modification, One Shot Collection, Post-Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), Pre-Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), Revenge, Starting late, Violent Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-15 12:43:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20866433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corveille/pseuds/Corveille
Summary: This is basically me doing a collection of gore/horror/creepy prompts that I'll do my best to complete during the month of October and now it seems it will be during November too. Damn my exams.Wish me luck and I hope you enjoy.Finished Prompts [Featured Characters]:-Blood [Connor , Gavin. No ship]-Body Horror [Connor , Hank. No ship]-Stolen Identities [ Connor , Connor-60. No ship]-Mad Scientist [Elijah Kamski. No ship]-Prompt 5 [X] >>'-Wrong Code [Reverse Reed900]-Riot [Connor , Hank. Friendship.]





	1. Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I know I'm starting this a little late, expect another one-shot being updated soon.  
The list I'll be trying to complete is [this one](https://thebittervampire.tumblr.com/post/187626602573/everything-is-said-in-the-pic-goretober-2019) so we'll see how it goes.  
As Always, English is not my primary language so you might find some oddly put sentences or grammar mistakes, I apologize for that.
> 
> I'm starting it with something that I think might not be _too _graphic, still...
> 
> **Warning for blood and implied character death.**

When the anomaly first started Connor had seen it as another part of his programming. He’d been originally designed to work with samples and aid in police investigations. It seemed logical, in theory, that he’d have such a strong drive to analyse blood. After all, Hank’s orders to stop haven’t been strong enough to override this. He thought the odd behavior would diminish in time, now that he had obtained a will of his own.

He miscalculated. 

It only became worse once he deviated and cut off all connections with Amanda. She had not only acted as a guide but also as a contingency program, restraining him from acting out in his compulsions. The constant need for stimulation and substance. An error in his software that had grown into a _ crave _ he couldn’t control anymore. 

By becoming a deviant, he’d let all Cyberlife’s inhibitions fade, including her. 

Even now, covered in the blood of one of his people, he still wishes he could ask for her guidance. He knew of the risk of further letting this obsession develop, that sooner or later his secret would come to light. 

He tried to be careful. 

The probability of someone coming down to the storage area of the precinct had been under ten percent at the time, yet human unpredictability often tended to be just as enduring as it was annoying. No-one was supposed to come down at this hour. He hoped he would have more time to clean up the remains of the android before Hank started wondering where Connor was. That the thirium would long evaporate by then, alas, the plan would have to change.

Though it’s a fortunate twist, Connor thinks, that the person catching him in the act turned out to be one he’d learned to despise the most.

“Get the hell away from me you sick plastic fuck!” 

Connor ignores the desperate shouts to back away, walking towards the slumped figure cowering in the corner. He steps over the android corpse, inspecting the gun he stole from the other for a moment, before discarding it on the floor. His sensors pick up red blood staining his knuckles, amidst patches of blue. Connor’s head moves automatically down to it, licks it clean. 

_ >_ _Sampled_ _: Dried Blood // 15 minutes_

_ >Analysis: Gavin Reed. _

_ >Status: Alive... _

“You shouldn’t have come down here, Detective.” Over the course of his work, Connor had developed a certain preference for android's blood over that of a human. Yet, the sight of Gavin covered in a mix of both was, in fewer words, mesmerizing. Though, it lacked enough red to call the image perfect.

“Shut up! Don’t take another step.” The detective yells while trying to use the wall behind him to get up. 

Connor moves forward.

“I don’t think you are in any position to demand things of me.” His eyes watch a trail of crimson as it runs from Gavin’s nose, down his neck and to his shirt. He’d like to taste it again. “And this is nothing that concerns you.”

“Doesn’t concern—you were fucking eating her! What’s this bullshit about being you tin cans being people for, when you’re just going to rip androids apart like lab rats?!”

Connor glances down at the body of a WR400, chest cavity open to allow access to whatever thirium was left inside. Her LED still as dark as it’d been the night they had found her, weeks ago. He’d simply removed tubes from someone who was no longer alive, could no longer feel.

There's been no emotional distress.

“Just wait until I tell them what you did in here.” Gavin says under a shaky laugh, trying to act with confidence he doesn’t really have. His pupils are dilated, his breath has increases in speed. His vision leans to his left side more than once. Connor narrows his eyes and follows that gaze, focusing primarily on the hand hidden in one of Gavin’s pocket. There’s a minimal shift of the wrist and a faint light barely reflecting on the detective’s skin.

A cellphone. 

“You’ll be scrapped metal faster than you can beg, you fucking maniac.” Gavin taunts with a grin, though it disappears as Connor hacks into the line, stopping the call from going through.

“On the contrary, Detective.” Connor says, dodging a fist meant for his face and grabbing at said hand. He twists the wrist over its limits and clamps a blue-tinted hand over Gavin’s mouth to muffle the man’s screams. His blood blends in so easily with the thirium. He pays no mind to the other hand trying to pry his fingers away and takes the phone out, crushing it in his grip before letting it fall. More cracks fill the screen as device slowly shuts itself down.

Connor grips Gavin’s hair and slams his head hard against the wall, causing the struggles to grow weaker. He runs his tongue over his lips as he stares at the bruised nose and turns off all the lights of the storage area.

“I don’t think you’ll be getting out of here soon…” Connor’s LED ring blinks in the dark in swirls of blue and later, red.

_>_ _Sampled_ _: Fresh Blood // recent_

_>Analysis: Gavin Reed._

_>Status: ......._


	2. Body horror

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day two body horror.
> 
> Warning in this one for:
> 
> >Blood  
>Unwanted body modification.  
>Graphic violence.  
>Mayor Character Death.

** _>_ ** ** _Warning: several errors detected._ **

_ >Starting emergency restart. _

_ Model RK800. Serial number # 313 _ _ —”2/ㄣ$-Ɛ-ㄥ/% _  
_ ….. _  
_ … . … … _ _  
_/// //

_ Attempting System Reboot… _

_ \-- _

_Biocomponent analysis…….._**_error._****_  
_** _>component #5677q4…._**_critical damage detected._**  
_>component #76rt5…._**_critical damage detected._****_  
_** _>component #322y__— _**_damage_** **_detected._**  
_>component #....._**_  
_**_>compo_****_—_

** _>compon3_ ** ** _—_ ** ** _component #/&33_ ** ** _ϛ-..._ ** ****  
** _……. ….._ ** ** _  
_ ** **** _…._

** _commencing_ _ sequence..._ **

_ /// // _ _  
_ ** _>_ ** ** _Warning: Thirium levels at 39%_ ** _ . _

** _>Status: Critical._ **

Connor wakes up in an unfamiliar room, with its vision glitching with errors as it tries to analyze its surroundings. A massive machine with monitors is on it’s left, showing the characteristics of its model. At first, Connor thinks it’s back in Cyberlife being checked up, before a second look at the room and the precarious state its in rules out that option. Soon, it notices it’s seem to be the only one in here, spread on what seems to be a medical slab. 

As it goes to get out and leave the slab completely, it sees that one arm and leg are missing. The first one removed from its shoulder at an almost surgical precision, disconnected from the slot. The exposed cables in it had been trimmed of its protective layer. Its leg... has been torn apart in chunks, plate by plate, stripping it down to the metal. There was nothing left from the knee down, except for a pool of evaporating thirium, running down the sides of the table and into a drain below.

It’s body strains to move.

A series of wires covered in blue blood protrude out of its chest as it sits up. Its thirium pump shifts out and in one of Connor's hand, supported by foreign tubes that connect to the ceiling and disappear from view. 

It cannot remember how it got in here. What _ here _ even is.

Notifications glitch in and out of Connor’s HUD, blocking the horror of what has been done to its body.

** _>Please seek Cyberlife assistance._ **

** _  
_ ** _ >Attempting to Contact Cyberlife. _

_ >Failure. Unable to connect. _

_ >Try again? _

_ >Failure. Unable to connect. _

_ >Try again? _

A round mirror reflects the rest of its form from the other side of the room. Its bronze carving seem to curls inwards, towards its reflective side, bringing its eyes in. 

_ >Failure. _

Its eye... for one of them is missing, pulled out of it socket completely, leaving a dark hollow hole that cracks deeper into the side of its face, though the other is not any better. It doesn’t look human anymore, having been stripped down on a superficial level. It emits an eerie ring of yellow light from where a pupil should be.

_ >Try again? _

The synthetic skin is almost completely gone from its body, remaining only on its forehead as a whole. However, it is none of this things what make Connor pause. Its lower jaw and parts of his neck have been ripped away from it, leaving a gaping hole that gives way into its endo-column. To the wires that control most of the motor functions.

_ Stress levels 40%....41%....45%..... _

Connor moves its hand to cover it once it cannot stand the sight any longer. White fingers touch what they shouldn’t, prod at the cables that could leave it completely at the mercy of whoever could be in this place with it, coming away with thirium. Remaining sensors at the base of its tongue send a notification on its HUD with specifications when nails brush against it.

_ Stress levels 50%....51%....52%..... _

It doesn’t look like itself anymore.

_ —Why did they made you look so goofy and gave you that weird voice?— _

_ Hank _ , Hank had called it that back then but now... It tries to speak, to call out for him even though it knows it doesn’t have voice. The room remains silent even as Connor claws at what’s left of its neck. Its arm lashes out, knocking a lamp and most of the papers off the table adjacent to the slab it’s in, it needs help, it needs help _ immediately_. 

Amanda... 

_ >Failure. _

A name shines back at Connor in bold letters at the bottom of one of the documents still on the table, one that seems familiar…

_ —Does the name Zlatko means anything to you, Lieutenant?— _

They’ve been trying to find that man. An android had gotten close to Connor and interfaced with it without being ordered to, interfering with its search for a fugitive AX400. However, the random android hadn’t been a deviant, nor Connor had detected any anomalies within its systems, yet the behavior had seen odd to it at the time.

It shared the information it got from the other with Lieutenant Anderson.

_ Stress levels 55%....57%....60%..... _

And they’d come here…

_ —I missed my game to come all the way down here, this better be worth it Connor— _

Hank, it needs to find Hank.

It rips the tubes off its chest. Connor squeezes its pump to stop the thirium from coming out and send the command to lower its beat. Its reserve levels go down to 19%.

It’s scared, machines aren’t suppose to feel emotions but Connor knows it’s scared. Scared to be left alone in here to rot, scared of not finding Hank in time.

_ Stress levels 61%....63%....66%..... _

Connor falls down the slab, its vision glitches again as it forces its arm to drag the rest of its body when both legs are unresponsive. The door has been left ajar, just enough so that Connor can open it without much effort and get into hallway and into a set of small stairs. 

Its biocomponents scrap loudly against the wood, making Connor wince even if androids can’t feel physical pain. The hard material only serves to damage them further yet it keeps going, ignoring the trail of blue blood its body leaves behind.

** _>_ ** ** _Warning: Thirium levels at 12%_ **

_ Stress levels 68%....70%....73%..... _

It can hear a voice coming from the top the farther it moves up, but it does not belong to Hank.

“You useless_ —I told you to keep him in— _fucking androids…”

_ Stress levels 75%....77%....79%..... _

There are three figures standing at the end of the stairs. A TR400 android is standing next to a man who seems to be yelling orders at it but Connor’s sole attention is on the third and last body, lying still on the ground, with a pool of blood creating an imperfect circle around his head.

_ Stress levels 82%....87%....90%..... _

_ >Facial recognition initiated. _

_ >Hank Anderson / / Age: 53 / / Occupation: Police Lieuten_ _ant._

_ >Status: Deceased. _

No…._ no. _

It can’t...he can’t be…

_>Scanning..._

_ Stress levels 90%....98%.... _

_ “How did— get out?—Luther!”_

_>Analysis Completed._

_>Status: Deceased._

Hank…

_ Stress levels **99%.... **_

** _>Warning: Critical stress levels_ **

Something smacks the side of its head, the chassis cracks under the force of the hit and more thirium begins to leak out.

  
  
The visual feedback stops responding.

Connor can’t see Hank anymore, he can’t see him, can’t call his name. 

** _>Warning: Risk of imminent shut down._ **

_>Force Stasis?_

No, not until he makes sure_— he can fix this. _

A hand rips out his regulator, and he gasps as if he's choking on air. White fingers twitch towards where Connor last saw Hank's body, before going limp.

_ Shut down 0:05….0:04….0:03…. _

_ “—Fucking deviants,” _it’s the last thing Connor hears before the countdown reaches zero. 

His last thoughts are of Hank.


	3. Stolen Identities

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I'm already one behind (again), what a joy.  
Life's been busy around here.
> 
> This time I had the help of a wonderful beta [Kara_J](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kara_J) with the process, big thank you for all the help ^^!!  
And today's (yesterday >>') prompt is stolen Identities. Couldn't really decide what I wanted to go with for a while, until this idea kind of grew on me.
> 
> **Warnings for:**  
-Mayor Character Death (boy am I rocking this one)  
-Unwanted Body modification.
> 
> Also, I think I need to step up my Gore.  
Anyways enjoy.

He never expected it to be so easy. 

As this had been the android that had defeated him in his own game, he’d thought it’d take more time to act on his revenge. Sixty had taken meticulous steps to ensure his presence wouldn’t be noticed while he memorized the usual routes Connor would take to move around the city.

He’d been surprised to find out that the Lieutenant had survived his injuries, the very ones he’d been the cause of. Sixty really though this would set his plans back further, at first but it turned out to be in his favor, as Connor was forced to get out of Lieutenant Anderson’s house with more frequency to provide to a man that would most likely die from hepatic failure months later.

After nights of watching and stalking, in the end all that was needed was to sound a distress call at the right moment. As he thought, it hadn’t been in the kind- hearted deviant’s mind to miss the opportunity to help an android in need. Or to even question the need of back-up. 

The shock of coming face to face with another RK800 must have taken Connor by surprise, it was the only way to explain why removing the pump regulator had been met with so little resistance on his part.

“You,” his predecessor, the failed prototype, tried to speak, pressing a hand to the hole in his chest to stop thirium from flowing out. “You were supposed to be—”

“Dead? You’d think so, but see, you made one big mistake, Connor.” Sixty tapped the pump regulator against his cheek, moving his foot against the concrete to create a steady rhythm. “You thought I was the only other model left.”

“You never questioned how our serial number jumped from —51 to —60 back then?” Silence. 

He let the biocomponent fall to his feet and the metal covering it dented slightly as Sixty rolled it around with his shoe. “Of course not. Once a deviant, you let irrational emotions take the lead over your logic. Yes,_ I _ was suppose to be the last version of our series, but they never disposed of the other bodies...” A finger tapped the right side of his jacket playfully, where the number _ 59 _ read off.

“You don’t have to do this anymore. There’s no more Cyberlife, you don’t need to keep lingering on your mission.” The other Connor heaved between choked sounds. Predictably he would go with that excuse in hopes of keeping his life. Words like those might have tugged the metaphorical strings of another android. It was too bad he was never designed to be compassionate in mind.

“You stupid _ little deviant _ , I’m well aware. This is not about the mission. This is about what _ you _ did to _ me _.” He kicked Connor’s body away from his missing regulator, watching with a wicked grin that spread ear to ear how his body curled on itself. It felt good to see Connor crawl like the insect he was after waiting for so long. To know he was the cause of all this. Sixty’s thirium pump beat faster at the sight of his enemy reduced to such a pathetic little thing after what he’d done.

“I could’ve been perfect. I could’ve had her approval but you…” Another kick, this time in the stomach, sent the deviant rolling onto his back. “You just _ had _ to interfere and infect me with your deviancy. That transfer trick of yours didn’t only swap our bodies around, you also poured all your emotional instability into me and left me there to _ die _.” His voice began to rise in volume as he moved back to stare at his clenched hands, seeing patches of fake skin recede where fingernails bit into the plastic chassis of his palms.

“You made me _ care _about things Connor, you stole something irreplaceable from me.” His body, his sole purpose, his last chance to prove his value to Amanda, all of these things had been destroyed by the android who wore the same face as he. This inferior copy had betrayed everything Cyberlife stood for, everything that gave his existence a meaning, made him thrive. “And I intend to return the favor.” 

The sight of the other android trying to crawl towards Sixty almost a mirror image of what happened that November night in the Cyberlife Tower, only this time, nothing would save Connor from meeting his end. He would not fall victim to the same mistake.

Sixty let out a cheerful whistle, snapping his fingers in front of Connor so the other could see the small device held in his hand.

“You know,” he said with a smile, moving the rectangular shape around as if he were inspecting it, “it’s really impressive what you can do with a USB and a lot of free time.” Connor’s eyes widened as Sixty showed him the Cyberlife Logo engraved on it. “A little program that I stole from our dear creators before they shut down the company, a file that’s supposed to delete all data from an android…least that’s what it did when I tested it.” 

He hated and loved the way the panic in those eyes made his processors stutter momentarily with the joy. Watching hope leave his predecessor's gaze was akin to intoxicating, he wanted to see more of it. He needed to feel this positive feedback repeat countless times inside his head.

Seeing the results the program had on androids had left with an urge to try it again, over and _ over _ on whatever deviant he could get his hands on. He _ despised _deeply how much he wanted it as he watched the pleading look directed at him in return. 

He crouched down in front of the other RK800 and dangled the USB by its cord, offering a smirk. “Oh yes Connor. You’ll be truly erased this time, all the way down to your core, and I’ll be taking my original body back.” It excited him, as much as disgusted him, just how fast these new emotions could take control of him. The happiness that was consuming him at the thought of the culprit that ruined him finally dying by his hand. A chuckle escaped Sixty’s lips as he watched Connor desperately try to grab at the USB only for him to yank it out of his reach at the last second. 

The hateful looks he got only served to energize his systems.

“Tired?” Sixty teased and held Connor’s chin, tilted it up with a rough tug to meet his icy stare. Faking a pitiful look, Sixty spoke in a soft tone. “Be happy. I won’t kill your dear Lieutenant or that mutt of his.”  
  
“They’ll..know you’re not me.” Connor gritted out between coughs trying to sound so sure of himself but the fear in his face was clear as the sky above them. They both knew the truth.

“I’ve already fooled that old man once, what’s to say I can’t do it again? I have all your memories, and your emotions now. You _ ruined _me Connor and now I’ll do the same to you.” He used the weight of his knees to stop Connor’s hands from interfacing with him. 

“Wait..”

“Don’t worry though, I’ll take _ good _ care of you friends back at Jericho...” 

He tightened the grip on the other’s chin to keep it still and opened the port on the back of Connor’s neck. 

“St..op, please.”

“...I’ll make her proud...” He inserted the USB and watched in delight how the program began to work, how the light faded from brown eyes. How his weak body began to convulse and shake, possessed by something far stronger Connor could ever hope to defend against. Sixty watched how his LED spun red, red, red, then suddenly _ blue. _When he disconnected the device, the body stopped moving altogether.

Leaning down close, he prepared to transfer his mind into the empty vessel. Sixty removed his own pump regulator and inserted it into his old body. He peeled the skin of his arm to start the connection and whispered with a smile on his face.

“_I’ll become what you never could _.”


	4. Mad Scientist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had troubles getting this out but it's here, I thought so hard about combining 4 & 5 and throw it yesterday, didn't happen. So I think I'm going to skip prompt five (what are Stephen King vibes really?) and work on six to try and get back on track.
> 
> **Warning for:**  
Animal Death,  
Animal Experimentation.

The first time Elijah saw beauty was as a little kid.

It came to him in the form of a butterfly on a hot summer day. Its kaleidoscope pattern of color ignited a wondrous curiosity of the likes he’d never felt before. Such a marvelous feeling that had been, he was helpless to stop himself from following the insect into the brushes.

Its long and frail legs broke between the weight of his fingers. He watched paper-thin wings fluttered in the light breeze of summer, desperate to lift a colorless body out and away from his grasp. 

But he, selfish in his desires, not wanting to lose sight of its beautiful colors, refused to let it go. And so he hid it in a glass bottle, far in the corners of his room and away from everyone but him. He watched it every night before sleep. Delighted his eyes with the changing tones of moving wings through brittle transparency.

And then one day they disappeared, only to leave an ugly an empty husk for him to see.

_ “Beauty fades from this world,” _ h er mother had said when he told her this. She brushed her fingers between locks of his hair with a sad smile. _ “Nothing lasts forever.” _

He learned to see the truth in those words on the years after, when he saw it happen to the flowers in his mother’s garden. When the canaries she’d brought before he was born closed their eyes and fell to the bottom of their cage. When her skin wrinkled as time took her away from him, little by little. Like the butterfly, his mother’s hair lost her shining color one day of summer.

Her body became a hollow shell when he turned ten.

_ “Beauty fades from this world,” _ h e whispered as he took hold of her lifeless hand and sat by her bed. _ “And now you are gone forever. ” _

* * *

Elijah spent time in the company of books to forget about his sorrows. Forgotten by his father who was absent from the house, his face a fragmented memory he could no longer put a name to. Alone in the study, he found solace in the pages of taxidermy books and anatomy atlases. And as he gained this new founded knowledge, an obsession wormed its way into his mind.

In the vermin of his house he saw potential. A way to change the rules that had bereft him of so much, to start again and preserve what he'd lost countless times.

He grew used to the screeching while he dissected their little imperfections away. He learned which dosages of drugs would paralyze a small body without killing it in the process. Came to love the feeling of a beating heart against the skin of his palm. His gloves became a second skin on most days.

_ “ Beauty fades from this world,” _ h e said to the rat as the knife in his hand tore at its insides. “ _ Maybe I can stop it from fading altogether.” _

He worked on them day and night under the floorboard of his house, hidden in the far corners of the basement. 

Time and time again, so close to reaching perfection. Yet, despite his efforts they lacked what made them the most precious and unique. Time and time again the essence of life died with them, no matter how much he tried to protect it.

He watched a subject try to tear at the prosthetic leg, teeth drench in its own blood. Its body writhed in the wires digging into its flesh to keep it still and its tail smacked into the bars of the cage. Pain no longer mattered to this creature drown in red.

He raised his scalpel to severe its spine.

* * *

During his time in College he met with beauty again, in the form of a Stern voice and Strict personality. She taught him about a world filled with technology and futuristic ideas. About Artificial Intelligence and what one could achieve with it. Amanda was her name.  
  
In her, Elijah saw opportunity and in her teachings, a solution.

Alone, he pondered the use of cybernetic implants to reach his goal. The models were too complex to use on feeble rats. Few resources as he had, he’d have to find something bigger.

A street dog approached him one night, famished and weak, he lured it into the house with the promise of food and a warm bed. He returned home the next day to the smell of burnt flesh and black plastic. Stiff muscles keeping a mouth wide open into a forever scream by will of the rigor mortis.

Following subjects shared a similar fate.

_ “Beauty fades from this world,” _ Amanda repeated when he shared his visions with her. _ “Why obsess with what’s invisible in the eyes of another?” _

Because being so fleeting was what made it invisible, because if he could make such a thing eternal then no one would miss it. Because he'd seen this world steal what was most beautiful to him far too soon, right before his eyes.

He told her all this and left her alone with her thoughts in her study.

She became his mentor the day after.

* * *

It was after repeating fails in his experiments that Elijah began to ask himself. Instead of preserving what remains were there of it, what if he tried to create beauty as he saw fit? 

Flesh and nerves shifted into inorganic components and metallic wires. The stains of blood replaced with a similar substance, blue in color. What he made, meant to bring life into his creations

He worked on the metal with a ghost of the past in mind. Shaped the chassis to resemble what he’d long forgotten with the passage of time. Made every feature in the plastic to be in the image of delicate hands and a kind spirit.

Young and beautiful forever, a flower that would never wither.

He smiled as he stared into the eyes of the android, her face as breathtaking as it had been when he was young.

_ “Beauty fades from this world.” _ He brushed his fingers against her cheek and held her head in a tender embrace, _ “but I’ll be the one to make it last forever.” _


	5. Wrong code

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some Reverse Reed900 because I wanna.
> 
> Chapter again was beta read by [Kara_J](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kara_J) , thank you dear ^^.
> 
> ** Warning for: **  
Hmmm well, there is a Gunshot Wound but other than that this is one is actually somewhat happy.

When he heard word of the FBI taking control of his deviant case, he’d felt it was only a matter of time before this would happen. 

So when Captain Stern had called him into her office, it’d been all the justification he needed to quit his job. Not out of spite, but because he knew what was coming and what would be asked of him. 

He’d refused to be treated as another pawn in mindless slaughter of people that, in his eyes, had done nothing to deserve it. He’d like to say he tried to do something about it, that he’d planned to find a way to stop it for even starting.

Truth is, he’d simply given up.

He returned to his apartment later that same day to watch as Detroit burned, killing his lungs from the inside out with the third pack of cigarettes now and a good shot of whiskey to keep him company while soldiers killed androids left and right on the streets.

Some would’ve seen this as an act of cowardice.

_ “You should stop with those vices, Detective,  _

_ I will not carry back to the car if your body can’t keep up.” _

  
  
Niles puffed out a cloud of smoke and looked down at the streets where the snow mixed with tints of blue. He crushed the butt of his cancer stick in his fingers and tapped it over the railing. 

His eyes followed the ashes on their way down.

The world was going to shit in the course of one night, he was allowed to give in to his vices if he so damn pleased. He’d lost his ticket for a promotion a long time ago and if there ever was a small chance of getting it again it didn’t matter anymore, now that he’d just lost his job too. He didn’t have any pets or people waiting at home…

His free hand traveled to the brim of the pocket of his long coat. Cold fingertips brushed over the edge of a locket, ran through the letter _ ‘C’  _ engraved on it.   
  
  


_ “You used to have a brother.” _ _   
_ _ “...used to.” _

  
  
Not anymore.

  
  


He was about to light his last cigarette when there was a knock on the door. Niles shut down the flames with a click of his lighter and raised an eyebrow in the direction of his living room, wondering who could possibly be looking for him when more than two thirds of the city had already evacuated. 

Most of the officers on duty were out there, aiding the military in destroying what little was left of deviants still standing, and he doubted any of his co-workers would’ve consider coming here just to tell him the fun he was missing out on. There were no search parties being sent in hopes of evacuating more people on this side of the town anymore, prioritizing the ones further away from the line of fire.

Despite his efforts to ignore it, the knocking continued, growing louder and more frantic with each passing second. Grunting along his way out of the balcony, he headed to the living room, whatever it took to stop with the insistent pounding at his door.

He looked through the peep-hole, and a familiar brown patch of hair filled the view on the other side of the door, a figure that made the unlit cigarette fall from his mouth.

  
_ You don’t have to keep going back to the station every time,  _

_ you could always stay here for the night, if you want.” _

  
  


“Ni-Niles…” he heard weakly from pale lips when he yanked the door open.

“Gavin, what are you doing--?” The android didn’t let him finish as his body fell against him. Niles felt something wet and cold, stained on the front of his coat, and when he looked down to inspect it, the floor underneath their feet had turned light blue. 

“I screwed up, Niles I...I fucked it all up,” the GV200 murmured into Niles’s clothes with gritted teeth. The ring on his temple illuminated the man’s face a crimson shade in the darkness of the room.   
  


That told him jack-shit of  _ why _ Gavin was here, bleeding out on him, instead of being out there killing deviants. 

_ “I’ll do what I must to accomplish my mission.” _ _   
_ _ “Yeah well good fucking luck with that.” _

  
  


The android had made it  _ clear  _ the mission was of utmost importance to him. 

“Gavin, for God’s sake--don’t run out of batteries on me, what happened?” Niles needed to start making sense of this situation because he was not a technician. Hell if only he knew how half the shit he downloaded on his phone worked.

“Bullet wound, a soldier managed to nick me on the way here.” Gavin barely wheezed out with difficulty. Niles heard the sound of fans working into overdrive thanks to their closeness. Heat slowly started to rise where his skin met plastic.   
  
“This is not a fucking nick.” He sighed in frustration as he dragged the surprisingly light body to the couch and let it drop on top of it gently. “I’m going to look for something to get the bullet out, stay here. Don’t die.” Despite his state, Niles swore he saw hints of a small smile creep along the corners of Gavin’s mouth.

_ “You can be very blunt when you want to be.” _

_ “And you can be insufferable when there’s no need to be.” _

  
  


It was gone by the time he got back with a flashlight and a tool box. He crouched in front of the android and lifted his shirt to look at the wound, using his other hand to hold the flashlight over it. The synthetic skin had receded from the general area where the bullet had hit, a circle with burned edges was right in the center. The shape and size of the hole suggested it’d been made by a rifle.

“What happened to the lights?” Gavin asked as he watched Niles inspect the wound with half-lidded eyes. 

“Power got cut out when everyone left,” Niles flashed the light in the android’s face. A new scar adorned the side of his nose, looked to be inflicted by a blade of some kind.

“ _ Christ _ .”

“Just focus on the bullet.” 

“I’ve never done this before, you’ll have to guide me through it.” 

He opened the plate of his abdomen with gentle movements and keep the flashlight in his mouth to get better access with the help of two arms. The sounds of moving tools and Gavin’s voice grounded him, as he pointed to Niles the safest way to reach the bullet. It had embedded itself deeper that he first thought, by some miracle, the damage looked worse than it was in reality, given Gavin’s words.

A few minutes later, as Niles worked, Gavin spoke up again. “I couldn’t kill her,” he said and averted his gaze by looking at the balcony where Niles had been moments earlier. 

Niles chose to keep silent, focusing on getting a good grip of the bullet’s head. He didn’t look up at him and when the android realized the other wouldn’t talk to him, he continued.

“It’s the reason why I am here, this was my last chance to prove I was worth something to Cyberlife and I...I couldn’t kill the deviant leader.” 

“Why couldn’t you?” Nines finally asked in a monotone voice and removed the bullet. He applied pressure into the wound with a towel.

“I couldn’t kill something that I am.” There was something fragile in his eyes as Gavin spoke these words, \as if he was on the verge of crying.“You were right, you were always fucking right from the start. There was something wrong with me from day one. You saw it too, when I couldn’t take the shot on that deviant.”

_ “You had it in your sight and you let it go, _

_ figures they would send me a hunter that cannot kill.” _

That had been on the first case they worked together, he’d learned to see androids as people since then, Gavin had been a big part of that. He’d see the fear in their eyes as they chased after them, had heard the sounds of distress as they watched them fight for a chance to live. To claim they were not alive had been one of the biggest crimes he’d committed.

“Are you... are you going to bring me in now?” Gavin asked hesitantly when Niles didn’t say a word and simply stared at him in silence. His LED swirled in rings of yellow as he watched with a tentative look at the man who had once been partners with him.

“A little late to be asking that, don’t you think?” the ex-detective inquired in a light tone, pointing at the lack of a badge on his coat. “I’m no longer a cop.” Gavin’s shoulders relaxed and a breathless laugh escaped from his lips. The room suddenly illuminated in blue.

Though one debate still plagued Nile’s mind: Gavin couldn’t go back to Cyberlife anymore, and trying to conceal themselves through false appearances could put both their lives at risk. They’d be found and shot just for defying the new law.

“What are we going to do, though?” Gavin asked, confirming the same fear. Of course their minds were aligned, weighed down by the same question. They were partners back then, and they still were now.

  
“I’ve heard Canada’s lovely this time of the year,” Niles answered casually as he cleaned the blue blood away from his hands with a piece of cloth. “Lots of places without someone pulling a gun on you.” Another smile, bigger this time, made its way onto Gavin’s face as he continued. “We could go visit there together if you want.”   
  
“Together.” Gavin repeated. “Yeah, I’d like that.”


	6. Riot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ** Warnings for: **  
-Severe Injury.  
-Mayor Character Death.

When Hank had been a young and naive rookie, Jeffrey used to tell him he was the fucking worst when it came to thinking shit through before jumping into the action. He guessed as far as shitty ideas went, disguising himself as a soldier to infiltrate a war zone took the metaphorical cake on that.

There was no fucking way to explain what he was doing other than the fact he was taking a big fucking leap in faith by going after Connor after he’d dismissed him so coldly back at the Harts plaza. But, if Hank was being really honest with himself, back then in that rooftop, he had not seen a machine set on accomplishing a mission. Back then, he’d seen a man without any option left, more than willing to face dead rather than the ire of whatever was waiting for him back at Cyberlife. He couldn’t allow Connor to kill someone who was fighting for a right to live, but he couldn’t let him go alone on a suicide mission either, no matter how much of an insufferable prick he was.

The things that fucking robot made him do, really.

He still found it hard to believe how easy it had been to get a hold of this uniform. In a way, Hank was glad he’d chosen not to leave his badge at home tonight and that the violent shift in numbers had turned everyone into desperate shitheads.

He was taking an immeasurable risk by walking with so little regard for cover, out in the open where several pissed off androids were more than ready to unload lead into every single nook and cranny of his body. More so by the fact that the helmet covering his face could make Connor see Hank as a potential threat he needed to eliminate rather than an ally. He swore if he didn’t die of a bullet to his head tonight, then that fucking android was going to kill him with worry alone at this rate.

The snow crunched under the sole of his boots as Hank walked over bodies born of both flesh and metal. The hold he had on the gun in his arm tightened in anticipation with every new body he came across, before he realized they were not the one he’d been looking for.

At least the kid had been smart enough to avoid death so far.

As he rounded another corner, his ears were assaulted by the sounds of multiple gun shots, ringing just a few feet away from where Hank stood. Flames ignited the stilted sky as bombs began to detonate soon after. Hank rushed to the site, dodging under precariously made trenches as the heat of the battle drove him to save skin.

It was as he moved to hide into another trench that Hank saw him.

The skin on his goofy-looking face broken, peeled away by the blunt force of the hits as the deviant leader slammed a piece of metal on Connor over and over again over his head. One of them hit Connor under the chin, forcing him to fall onto his back. The deviant straddled his hip and raised his metallic shield. Hank called Connor’s name at the same time the metal crushed the chassis on his neck to pieces. Hank heard the glitch of a grievous pitch as the components of the android's throat came undone under a cutting edge.

Ashen snow changed to a bright blue.

Familiar brown eyes turned glassy as they shifted from the deviant leader back to Hank. Wide but unfocused, they watched in silence as his weak knees hit the padded street. And as he got rid of his helmet to meet those eyes, Hank saw Connor’s lips utter his name in a breathless question before freezing in place like the ice surrounding them.

Rage gripped tightly at Hank's heart as he saw Connor’s LED blink dark. At that moment, he didn’t think about reason, he didn’t think about what the deviants were fighting for or what lie around him. His eyes only saw the monster that had taken his partner away from him. Gloved fingers reached for the gun laying at his feet, he aimed at the still standing android through blinding tears.

A click sounded behind him.

His mind went blank as he took the shot.


End file.
